Headlamp Hat

For my 23.25-inch head, I should have a hat that's about 21-inches in
 circumference. Blocked, this hat measures 20-inches, but fits nicely.

HEAD LAMP HAT
Toque with integrated USB Rechargeable LED.

Size Shown: Men's Large (23-inch head circumference)

Yarn Weight: DK

Yarn Used: Into the Whirled Dresden DK, "Captain Tightpants"

Needles: US 4 (one size smaller for brim)

Gauge: 24 stitches to 4-inches/10cm

Supplies: USB Rechargeable Light with Rubber Frame

Knit a gauge swatch using your preferred yarn/needles.  Measure the circumference of your head at the top of your ears. Subtract about 10% for negative ease, multiply that by your gauge, and cast-on. (I cast on 115 sts.)

Knit in the round for 2 inches. Increase 5 stitches (about 5%) in next round, then knit 2 rounds. Purl a round to create turning edge.

Knit 3/4 inch. Bind off 1.25-inches of stitches (see TechKnitter's buttonhole instructions for a neater edge). Work flat for 1. inch, then cast-on across the gap the number of stitches you had previously bound off. Place marker, and resume working in the round until you have the same number of rounds above and below the purl ridge. This creates a hole in the brim sized for the light I purchased; you may have a different sized light which may require a larger or smaller hole. I recommend making the hole so the rubber gasket fits snuggly—my rubber gasket is sized for a 1.5 x 1.25 inch hole, so I subtracted 1/4 inch from the length and width.

Fold the brim along the purl turning ridge, with the cast-on edge behind your live stitches. Close the hem by working cast-on edge together with your live stitches. (Again, see TechKnitter's instructions.) Leave about 1 inch of the "hem" unclosed, so you have a gap to insert and remove rechargeable lamp.

Knit plain to desired depth. I like a bit of height to my hats, so I worked about 10.5-inches plain before starting the crown. 

Decrease 8 stitches per round on alternate rounds for crown. (I worked *SSK, k13* around, then a plain round, *SSK, k12*,  knit plain, etc.) For more info on crown shaping, see Woolly Wormhead's Crown Shaping Master Class.

Bald Men Need Hats

For years, Greg had been cutting my hair every three weeks. I'd long wondered if I was fooling myself, but friends and colleagues told me not to shave my head. "I don't think of you as a bald person; my mental picture of you has hair," said a children's librarian I worked with.

Then one day I snapped a selfie backstage, and the backlighting and blur effect resulted in this startling portrait.

Backstage during "Tuck Everlasting," preparing to
step on as "Old Hugo" in the final dance number.

It was time to face facts. "I think our time together is coming to an end soon," I said to Greg. He gave me my usual trim, and then I gave him the go-ahead to keep going, as he buzzed all my hair down to a fine stubble. I was afraid, but once it was done I really liked the look. 

Good thing too, because when the pandemic hit and hair salons were closed, it was great not to have to worry about my hair.

I already was used to wearing caps in the summer to keep my bald spot from burning, but I was lackadaisical about hats in the winter. It's been a struggle finding hat styles that I look good in, though. What seems to work best is close-fitting beanie or toque, knit slightly long so the top sits an inch above my skull.

I don't need a thick hat: my bald head puts out a lot of heat, and in fact, I've found in the summer that I prefer a coating of sunscreen on the scalp, as I tend to overheat in a cap. Last fall, I bought a Night Scope Beanie to wear on my dark morning walks; looks good and works great, but it's too thick and hot. So I'm experimenting: I found these rechargeable LED beanie lights on Amazon, and I'm working on a simple beanie, leaving a hole in the hemmed brim to insert the light.

Finished picture with yarn and pattern details soon.

PS: While I don't miss my hair at all, I do miss seeing Greg.

Facelift

Very slow day at work (winter storm on a Friday before Christmas weekend has closed every library in the state and left our inboxes empty and our to-do lists moribund), so I decided, "Hey, why not dust off your blog?"

Competition, principally from Ravelry and then from Facebook, had pretty much killed this blog as on online outlet, but times have changed. Ravelry underwent a redesign that permanently damaged its place at the heart of the online knitting community. (The last two knitting books I've looked at don't even have their patterns listed there, which would have been unthinkable five years ago.) Facebook had me in its grip until October of last year, when I found it was possible to take control of my timeline with Unfollow Everything. I still scan Facebook occasionally to check in on my friends' lives, but I update less frequently, and that's true of many of them as well.

When Twitter began melting down when Elon Musk took the reins two months ago, I had hopes that we'd see blogs come back. Sadly, that's unlikely. Perhaps if there was a tool as handy and easy to use as the old Google Reader there would be a chance. But few people care about the power and flexibility of RSS anymore. (For the record, I still do, and pay a subscription fee for Newsblur to keep my feed collection available.)

Will I keep this up? Unlikely. I'm a fairly busy guy. (And frankly, I kind of hate writing.) Nevertheless, I've occupied a few hours today selecting a new template for the blog, making it behave better on mobile devices, cleaning up the side widget, and replacing my old, blocky cartoon avatar with a current Bitmoji.

For those of you, like me, who still have a collection of RSS feeds and you've seen my blog suddenly show up again after a five year silence: "Hi there. Here's hoping your holidays are satisfying, and the new year brings you some joy."